A plan to make money importing cigarettes from South America and India has ended with a Waikato accountant guilty of fraud charges and his investors out of pocket to the tune of more than $100,000.

A jury of five women and seven men took six hours to find Te Awamutu accountant Gary Malcolm Hobbs, 45, guilty on 14 of 15 charges of theft by a person in a special relationship.

The trial, in the Hamilton District Court, heard there was no dispute as to whether Hobbs took the money but the trial boiled down to whether he was authorised to.

Hobbs and his business partners, fellow accountant Shane Rose and Christian Brown, set up South American Tobacco Group Ltd to supply North Island dairies with cheap cigarettes from Argentina and India.

The Waikato Times first highlighted concern over Hobbs' dealings in 2010 when his former business partner Christian Brown, went to the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) claiming millions of dollars in investors' money was missing.

Investors the Times spoke to had ploughed between $70,000 and $500,000 into the business.

The company aimed to set up a tobacco growing and cigarette manufacturing base in Samoa but it folded in 2009 when it ran out of money.

Health Ministry records show that in 2008 the company imported about half a tonne of cigarettes, selling each of the 29,635 packets for $8.90. The company was selling brands V8 Smooth, V8 Special and Red 1.

The company's website said it was based in Zurich, Switzerland, and started from small beginnings, eventually positioning itself as a global manufacturer of high quality cigarette brands.

Hobbs and Mr Rose were struck off the register of chartered accountants in 2010 for conduct unbecoming of an accountant and for bringing the profession into disrepute.

The SFO laid charges in November last year, totalling more than $370,000 but Hobbs was found guilty of taking about $320,000.

"This not only impacted directly on them but at a local level it undermines the good faith that people should be able to place in professional services such as chartered accountants."

Hobbs was a qualified chartered accountant and a member of the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants (NZICA). Following an NZICA investigation into Hobbs Rose and allegations of client funds being mismanaged, Hobbs' NZICA membership was cancelled in 2010.